Helen Mirren carries LANA MARKS Cleopatra Clutch on 2007 Academy Awards Red Carpet, and to the podium to accept her award. (PRNewsFoto/LANA MARKS)

01 March 2007 (Sawf News) - As she walked up to the podium to accept her Oscar for the best actress Helen Mirren was acutely aware that she was holding a $250,000 diamond studded clutch from Lana Marks.

"Here I am with my purse..." Mirren said upon taking the podium to accept her award.

Helen Mirren's Cleopatra Clutch has 776 individually cut and set diamonds on an 18k yellow gold frame and was inspired by a royal tiara. (PRNewsFoto/LANA MARKS)

Setting a new standard for luxury accessories, the Lana Marks Cleopatra Clutch, designed by Lana J. Marks herself, has 776 individually cut and set diamonds on an 18k yellow gold frame and was inspired by a royal tiara, incorporating scrolls, garlands, and collets with a coronation inspired crown -- a good luck charm for Mirren -- delicately placed in the front of this cream alligator handbag, taking a month to produce in four countries.

Helen Mirren
(c) AFP/Getty Images Frazer Harrison

This was the costliest of the clutches ever worn by an Oscar nominee.

Because the demand for the LANA MARKS Diamond Cleopatra Clutch is so great, starting in 2004, only one actress has been granted permission to carry the $100,000 handbag down the Academy Awards Red Carpet.

In 2004, Academy Award Winner for Best Actress Charlize Theron wore a $100,000 Lana Marks Cleopatra Clutch on the Red Carpet; in 2005 Best Actress Nominee Kate Winslet carried a $100,000 Deco Cleopatra Clutch; and in 2006, fashion icon Jennifer Aniston wore a Cleopatra Clutch.

Drew Barrymore, Debra Messing, Oprah Winfrey, Julianne Moore, Reese Witherspoon, Chloe Sevigny, the late Diana, Princess of Wales, and First Lady Laura Bush are just a few of Lana Marks' well-known customers.

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